Turkish courgette fritter recipe

As you may know, a few months ago I went to Kalkan in Turkey with my family. We rented a villa, ate and drank lots and enjoyed the sun. There are many many restaurants in Turkey but one night we decided to hire our own personal chef. I know it sounds a bit over the top but for the 8 of us it only cost £20 each!

And the food was amazing! (I must find his name and details if any of you are planning a trip over there….)

Anyway, ever since that evening, I have been determined to cook many of the dishes he prepared for us and this is my first: Courgette Fritters. The recipe below is loosely based on one from the Good Food Channel as I never read things properly and like to do things my own way.

You will need:

4 courgettes

1.5 tsp salt

50g plain flour

5 spring onions, cut in half and then sliced thinly

2 eggs

75g feta cheese crumbled

a handful of flat leaf parsley and handful of mint, chopped finely

2 garlic cloves, crushed

the zest of a lemon

1.5 tsp of chilli flakes

Lots of vegetable oil

To start, grate your courgettes and then lay them out on a large plate and cover with the salt. Courgettes are full of liquid and the salt will draw it all out. Leave aside for 15-20 minutes.

Meanwhile, mix all of the remaining ingredients together in a bowl.

Here comes the messy part. Slowly drain the courgette by pushing the liquid out through a sieve. You need to give it a really good squeeze to drain all the salty water away.

Add the courgette to the other ingredients and mix well.

Next, put a large heavy bottomed pan on to hob, get it really hot and add enough vegetable oil to fill the pan by about 2-3mm. Once it is super hot, spoon a tablespoon full of the courgette mix into the oil and flatten with the back of the spoon. It will hiss and spit so be careful.

Let it cook for 2-3 minutes and then turn and cook the other side Once cooked, place on a plate on top of some kitchen roll to absorb any excess oil.

Then you can serve! The feta and the salt will make it quite salty so I would recommend serving with a little yoghurt or chopped tomato.